


life is (coming home)

by LiveLaughLovex



Category: The Code (TV 2019)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Post-Canon, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27411985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: Harper returns from Maine. Abe realizes that, no matter what else changes, the two of them never will.
Relationships: John "Abe" Abraham/Harper Li
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	life is (coming home)

**Author's Note:**

> The title for this comes from an Anita Krizzan quote. Also, I have recently become obsessed with Jacob Lee, and so many of his songs seem to remind me of Abe and Harper (or, at least, of the future version of them I've created in my mind because I've only got one season of the actual show to go on). "I Belong to You" and "With You" are some of my favorites; those were definitely on my playlist whilst writing this. Also, "Lasting Lover," by Sigala and James Arthur - the acoustic version, though. With all they've been through, both separately and together, I just think those fit them well. 
> 
> Okay, music rant over. I hope you enjoy!

“Oh,” Harper sighed, leaning against the door to their office with a heavy sigh and a content grin, “how I missed this place.”

Abe glanced up from the manuscript in front of him, meeting her gaze with an indulgent, amused smile. “Lieutenant Li. You’re back from Maine.”

“Yes,” she agreed seriously. “I am back from Maine. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you.”

“Well,” he sighed good-naturedly, “good to see they didn’t manage to train the sarcasm out of you.”

“Please,” Harper scoffed playfully, finally taking a seat at the desk opposite his, “like they’d have been able to. They’d need six _decades_ for that, not six weeks.”

“And even then, it wouldn’t be a sure thing,” Abe muttered teasingly, flashing an innocent grin when she offered only a playful glare in return. “Well, it’s good to have you back, Lieutenant. We’ve missed you.”

“I doubt don’t it,” she laughed lightly, leaning back in her seat. “Maya’s told me all about some of my fill-ins. Told me she was a little scared she’d end up defending you against Article 118 charges, a couple times.”

“Yeah, well, just between the two of us? I was a little scared she’d end up doing that, too.” Abe smiled in response to the amused scrunch of her nose, tilting his head briefly to one side and simply staring at her for several seconds, as if he were happy simply to be studying her. “These past few weeks… I didn’t miss my co-counsel, Harper. I missed my _friend_.”

She stared at him for a moment. “You didn’t miss me as your co-counsel? Didn’t I hear from Maya that you lost a case because one of them spilled coffee all over a crucial piece of evidence before you got it to NCIS?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at the reminder. “Okay, alright,” he conceded humorously, “I did miss you as my co-counsel, too, but the absence of my friend was significantly worse. How’s that?”

She scrunched her face up, then offered a half-shrug. “Good enough for me. I missed you too, by the way,” she said, her voice softening ever so slightly as she uttered the words. “I mean, I went out with some of the other trainees a couple times, but nobody ever once tried to make me listen to Mozart’s best hits on the way to the bar.”

“Hey, I was just trying to expose you to some culture,” Abe defended himself mischievously, grinning at the indignant glower she tossed his way.

“I graduated from Midland School and _Stanford_ ,” she reminded him pointedly. “I have been exposed to plenty of _culture_ , Abraham. I just thought that, once I moved away from my Great-Aunt _Ludovica_ , I’d no longer spend my car rides listening to _The Marriage of Figaro_ instead of songs that came out, oh, I don’t know, this _century_.”

“See, I know those comments were intended to imply that I’m actually an old man, but all I’m hearing is that your Great-Aunt Ludovica’s got _great_ taste.”

Her phone began before Harper could provide any sort of proper rebuttal to that statement, and so she settled for an exasperated eyeroll as she retrieved the device from her purse, greeting the person on the other end of the line with a professional, “This is Lieutenant Li.”

She fell silent for over a minute, simply listening to whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying, and then, after about ninety seconds had passed, nodded once, responding in the affirmative. He was still eyeing her curiously when she finally ended the call with a polite farewell.

“Well?” the captain asked expectantly.

“ _Well_ ,” Harper replied, blowing out a breath, “we’re headed out to Henderson Hall.”

“Ah. And just what is out at Henderson Hall, exactly?” Abe questioned interestedly.

“Gunnery Sergeant Rachel Krennick,” Harper supplied, bringing up the case file Glen-One-N had just sent her with a grimace. She bit nervously at her bottom lip as she reviewed the information. “Four days ago, Sergeant Krennick walked in on her husband, Dr. Benjamin Renard, in the, uh, the _throes of passion_. The lucky lady was Lance Corporal Madeleine Pelant. She served under Krennick. They saw action together.”

“More than one type of action, as it turns out,” Abe said under his breath, deftly dodging the wadded-up scrap of paper she tossed in his direction and flashing a boyish grin as he righted himself in his seat. “The husband or the girlfriend?”

“What?”

“Krennick, a trained Marine, walked in on her husband having an affair with a woman she outranked,” Abe explained patiently. “We’re headed out to Henderson Hall to charge her with a crime, and I just… can’t really see them calling us in to prosecute a driving infraction. No, chances are, we get called in on this kind of case, somebody’s either dead or close to it. So, who is it? The husband or the girlfriend?”

“Husband’s dead, girlfriend’s in a medically induced coma while the swelling in her brain goes down.” Harper nodded at his sympathetic wince. “Yeah. Based on what the nurses I spoke to said, she’s also completely alone. Madeleine Pelant went into the foster system at four months old. Poor girl didn’t even _get_ out; she _aged_ out. She’s got a brother, Micah, but he’s one of ours, a translator, and his CO can’t spare him at the moment.”

Abe whistled quietly. “Sure, because his sister getting beaten to a pulp isn’t likely to pull his focus _at all._ ”

“Turnbull’s been briefed on the situation,” Harper assured him. “She’s doing what she can to try and get him home. And not just because he’s Madeleine’s brother. He’s also got her power of attorney, and he’s listed as her next of kin. If it takes a turn…”

“It’s a much better option for him to be here than in the middle of a warzone,” Abe finished with a nod. “As someone who’s got a sister of my own, I have to say I agree with that conclusion.”

Harper glanced up at that, at the suddenness of the information and the ease with which he said it. “You have a sister?” she questioned curiously.

“I do,” he confirmed nonchalantly, reaching across the desk to claim the tablet from her. “And what we need to do, _right now_ , is get in a car and drive out to Henderson Hall. Interview Rachel; maybe visit with the doctors, see how long they think Madeleine’s going to be.”

“Oh, great,” Harper huffed, falling back into her chair, “so what you’re saying is, let’s go interview the hammer-wielding, husband-killing Marine, and then let’s go see the poor girl that she made into her second victim.”

“I’m _saying_ , let’s go get justice for Madeleine Pelant,” Abe corrected pointedly. “Look, she screwed up, Harper. You know that, I know that, and I’m pretty sure she knows that. But this girl…” He glanced back down at the screen, at the smiling face of Lance Corporal Madeleine Pelant, and all he could see in that moment was his sister. “Look, she just… she deserves to be something more than what she was during her time with this Dr. Renard. She deserves to be _remembered_ for something more than that. And this Sergeant Krennick, she might’ve taken all that away from her four days ago.”

Harper eyed him concernedly, obviously picking up on something in his tone. “You alright, Abraham?”

“Yeah,” he assured her quickly, sighing quietly when her concerned expression grew incredulous. “She just, she looks a lot like my sister, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Harper studied Madeleine’s face for a moment, then nodded once. “You’re right. We should get justice for this girl. She deserves that, at least.” She mustered up a smile that didn’t feel even halfway genuine, even as she flashed it in his direction. “Well, then. Let’s get to Henderson Hall and prosecute our bad guy.”

“Bad _girl_ , actually,” Abe remarked as they walked out the door, laughing when Harper gently shoved at his arm in response. “Or bad woman, if you’d prefer.”

“I’d prefer none of them,” she muttered, shaking her head. “I really picked a great case to come back to town, didn’t I?” she questioned, tone laced with amused exasperation.

“You really did,” he agreed somberly, only cracking a smile when she shot an unimpressed look his way. “For what it’s worth, though, I meant what I said earlier, Harper.” He reached out to press the button for the ground floor, then turned to her to say, almost shyly, “I really am glad to have my co-counsel around again.”

That time, the smile she flashed him was 100% genuine. “Yeah,” she agreed quietly, glancing over at him as the elevator paused on the floor above their stop, “so am I.”


End file.
